The House Armed Services Committee will start to mark up the Obama Administration’s $670.9 billion defense spending proposal for Fiscal 2012 next week, said Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), committee chairman, Thursday. The mark-ups will commence on May 4 when the subcommittees on emerging threats and capabilities; military personnel; strategic forces; and tactical air and land forces convene. On the following day, the subcommittees on readiness and on seapower and projection forces will take their turn to scrutinize the President’s proposal, which includes a $553.1 billion base request for the Pentagon and for Energy Department national security programs and then $117.8 billion for overseas contingency operations. The full committee will then come together on May 11 to complete the mark-up process.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.